Trolley-retriever.



M. D. SELF. TROLLEY RETRIEVER.

l APPLIUATION FIL'ED DBO.30. 1908.

rammed Aug. 1o, 1909.

attenua? of construction and arrangement otl parts der 4 which is su ported in a ball an d socket tomatically drawing them, after they have pole as soon as it leaves the wire.

" which is bolted or otherwisesecured to the rsi-vr essie MAJOR DOUGLAS SELF, OF BESSEMER, ALABAMA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO WILLIAM E.

WOODSON, `OF lTEFFERSON COUNTY, ALABAMA;

TROLLEY-nn'rnmvnn.

Spe'ocation of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 10, 1909.

Application led eember 30, 1908. Serial No. 469,922.

To all whom 'it mayk concern:

Be it known that l, MAJOR DOUGLAS SELF, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bessemer, in the county of Jeilerson and'State of Alabama, have invented new and useful lmprovements in Trolley-lletrievers, of which the following is a specification. i y Y My invention relates to an improvement in apparatus for lretrieving trolley poles and aujumped the trolley wire,down to a position in which they will not 'engage the brace strands for the wire, thereby preventing great injury both to the strands and the trolley pole itsell'. One of the objects oi my invention is to provide an apparatus which will be comparatively simple and inexpensive and in which the air pressure on the car will be utilized through a cylinder and piston to retrieve the A further object is to provide an eXceedingly simple valve controlling arrangement for the admission of air to the cylinder which is adapted to automatically trip the valve and admit the air to the cylinder as the .trolley pole swings upwardly on leaving` the wire, and which will out ofi the air pressure when the trolley is pulled down by hand to a slightly lower position than th at assumed by it when automaticallyretrieved. i

My invention comprises further thedetails hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which y Figure 1 is a side elevation ol' my improved apparatus mounted on the top'of the car. Fig. 2 is a detail view of the valve tri Vping devices; Fig. 3 is a plan view ci the cylinder and valve mechanism. Fig. 4. is a plan view of one of the socket blocks for the ball and soclret joint supporting the cylinder. Fig. 5 isa side elevation of Fig. 4.

Similar reference numerals refer to similar parts throughout the drawings. n

l have illustrated my invention as mounted on the top l of a trolley car having a trolley pole 2 and its supporting mechanism 3, all of which are of ordinary construction. My retrieving apparatus comprises a cylinjoint, the ball 5 eing attached to the cylinder and the socket formed in the block 6,

top of the car. Suilicient clearance is left between the bottom of thecylinder and the top oi the block to permit the former to rock through the angles required for following the movements ofthe trolley pole. In the cylinder is a iston 7 connected to a stem S which is pivota y connected to the trolley pole. The pipe 9, mounted on the car, is vconnected with the air tank and through a branch pipe 10, hose 11, train pipe hose coupling 12, and hose 13, will deliver air pressure to a valve casing 1.4, which contains a rotary valve 1.5 for controlling the admission of the air through pipe 16 into the upper end ofthe cylinder 4. rlhe valve is operated by a crank 17, the outer end 18 of which is bent at right anglesI and extends into a longitudinal slot 19 in the valve tri rod 20, which is pivotally connected by a bo t 21 and a cotter-pin 22 to the trolley pole. l

In operation, the piston 7 and trip rod 2O stand normally in the position shown in Fig. 1, and the trolley pole is free to ride up and down through the ordinary angular variations required to follow the trolley wire, and in all such movements the crank 18 will stand unmoved in the position shown, with pressure cut oil -from the cylinder and will not be engaged by the trip rod at either end of the slot. li, however, the trolley pole jumps the wire it will raise the trip rod 20 until the lower end thereof engages the crank 1S and raises it so as to open the valve and admit the air pressure to the cylinder through the pipe 16, where the same takes immediate effect on the piston7 and forces the latter downwardly, drawing with it the trolley pole until the piston approaches the position oi the lower dotted lines in Fig. 1. Here it will be noted that l provide an exhaust opening 23 which is about equal in arca to the supply opening of the pipe 1 6. Accordingly when the piston moves to expose this exhaust, the air will flow out as fast as it flows in and the piston will assume substantially a stationary position as shown by the dotted lines, but if it attempts to rise above the opening it causes animmediate accumulation of the air pressure above itV by `throttling the exhaust which acts to hold it in the lowered position. To permit the trolley to be restored to the line, l use a rope 24 to draw the trolley pole to its extreme lowered position, it being noted that provision is made to allow the piston 7 to move down `below the position 'assumed when holding the trolley retrieved. vl/'hen this occurs the trip rod at the top oi the slot will strike the crank 18 and turn the valve 15 to cut oil" the pressure from the cylinder i, when the trolley pole will be 'free to rise until the wheel engages the wire. To permit the pole to move freely up and down and also to dash-pot the piston in the cylinder to prevent the pole rising too rapidly, l provide a small dash-pot opening 25 at the top of the cylinder.v

To adapt my invention to cars where it is desirable to reverse the trolley pole, li provide the block 6 with a movable section 26 which is shown and adapted to slide into an undercut groove 27 provided in the side of the block 6. rlhis section is of sufficient width so that when removed the ball 5 may be slipped out. lf then the coupling 12, which corresponds to the ordinary train pipe hose pipe coupling is broken, the trolley pole may be swung around to a reverse position. Here it will be seen that I provide a duplicate block 6 and accordingly, by withdrawing section 26 therefrom, l can slip the ball 5 in the block 6 and after inserting the section 26 it may be locked in place by a thumb screw 28. It is only necessary then to couple the pipe 13 to a hose 29 with its hal'l part 30 of the coupling 12, and the apparatus is ready -for use, the pipe 29 being connected up with the pipe 9 so as to deliver the air pressure to the hose 13 at this point. To adjust the length of the slot 19 to cause the valve to be operated by shorter movements of the rod 20, I provide opposite pairs of openings 31 through which pins, such as 32, can be inserted across the slot.

Having thus described my invention, what l claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. An apparatus for retrieving trolley poles comprising in combination with a car and its trolley pole, a cylinder pivotally connected to the car, a piston for the cylinder connected to the trolley pole, a pipe for delivering air pressure to said cylinder at one end, a valve for controlling the admission oi' said pressure, a trip rod for said valve also connected to the trolley pole, and an exhaust port near the opposite end o1 the cylinder from the air pressure admission end, sai-d trip rod acting only in its eXtreme raised and lowered positions to engage and throw said valve.

2. The combination with a car and its trolley pole, of a cylinder and piston, one connected to the car and the other to the pole, a l

pipe connected with a source of air pressure and leading to one end of said cylinder, an exhaust port near the Opposite end oi said cylinder, a valve lor said pipe, a trip rod connected to the trolley pole having means to engage and move said valve to admit the air pressure when the trolley pole jumps the wii'e and having means to engage and move said valve and cut oli the air pressure from the cylinder when the trolley is drawn to its extreme lowered position, and means to move said pole to its extreme lowered position.

3. The combination with a car and its trolley pole, oil' a piston and cylinder, one connected to the trolley pole and the other to the car, said cylinder having an air admission port at one end and au air exhaust port at the other end, valve controlled means l'or the admission olI Huid-pressure to said supply port, a mechanical trip device l'or said valve carrier by the trolley pole and having means to engage and operate the valve to cut the air pressure on or oil from the. cylinder as the pole assumes extreme positions and which eave the valve unal'lected by the normal mean movements oi' the pole, and means to move said trolley pole to its extreme lower position below that at which it is held by the retrieving apparatus.

d. A trolley retrieving mechanism comprising the combination with a car and its trolley pole, oi a cylinder supported in a ball and socket lioint on the car, the ball being attached to the cylinder, means whereby the ball can be withdrawn lrom the socket, a second socket the ball when the trolley pole is reversed, a piston within the cylinder having a stem pivotally connected to the pole, an air pressure supply pipe, flexible hose connected thereto near each socket block, l'lexible hose leading to the supply port i'or the admission oll air to one end oi said cylinder, a detachable coupling to connect the latter llexible hose to the i'lexible hose adjacent to the socket supporting the cylinder, valve means to automatically cut said pressure on and oil 'l'rom the cylinder, and an exhaust port near the other end oi'I said cylinder, substantially as and l'or the purposes described.

5. The combination with a car and its trolley pole, oi' a retrieving apparatus therefor comprising a piston and cylinder connected respectively to said car and pole, said cylinder having an air admission port at one end and an air exhaust port spaced l'rom the other end ol the cylinder, a valve controlling thel admission ol air pressure to said cylinder, an air supply pipe, a mechanical device carried by the trolley pole l'or tripping said valve to cut the pressure on or o'll, and a rope connected to the outer end of said pole, substantially as described.

6. A retrieving apparatus i'or trolley poles comprising a cylinder arranged substantially vertically and pivotally connected to the car, a piston therefor pivotally connected to the trolley pole, an air pipe conlprising a llexible hose leading to the upper end olI said cylinder, a valve carried by the cylinder and controlling the admission oi air pressure thereto,

provided in position to receive lll() an :exhaust port near the lower end oiithe' cylinder, a dash-pot oriice at the top of the cylinder, trip means for the valve comprising a rod provided with an elongated slot, a crank onx the valve stem which rides in said slot and is tripped by the rod when it reaches the top or bottom of the slot, said rod being so arranged that the top of the slot stands a small distance above the crank when the air pressure is admitted'to the cylinder and the pole stands in its automatic retrieved position, and manually operated means to further lower said pole to cause the rod to engage the crank and cut oli the air supplyf as and for the purposes described. A

7. The combination with a car, a trolley pole and a pivotal support therefor mounted on the car, of a reversible retrieving ap) aratus comprising two pivotal bearing llocks disposed equi-distantly from and on opposite sides of said trolley pole support, a piston having a stem connected to said pole, a cylinder in Which said piston works which has an air supply opening near one end and an exhaust opening near the other, means to automatically control the cutting on and otf of said pressure which are controlled by said trolley pole, a supply pipe -for the air ressure disposedVV adjacent to each bearing lock, a ileXible hoseconnected to said cylinder, and a detachable coupling to connect up -said latter hose with the air supply pipe adjacent to the bearing block upon Which the cylinder is then mounted, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof l have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

vMAJOR DOUGLAS SELF.

W'itnesses:

WILLIAM ELLroTT WooDsoN, ANNIE L. PEACE. 

